Thursday, 14 March 2013

AFRICA:''Corruption'': When the West corrupts ''Africa''

Africa's corruption troubles are well known,
but corruption is a global phenomenon and developed countries are deeply
implicated.Corruption is a major problem which continues to undermine institutions, economies and societies not least in Africa. In TI's Corruption Perceptions Index 2012, 90% of African countries scored below 50, (0 being "highly corrupt", and 100 representing a lack of corruption) and Somalia was deemed to be the worst offending African country with a score of just 8, joint with Afghanistan and North Korea, followed by Dr-Congo.Today Africa is witnessing a unique convergence of potentially positive developments in the
fight against corruption - one that has not existed since the end of the Cold
War, but Africa is still
facing the continuing reality of systemised corruption.

But despite the picture sometimes painted,
corruption is by no means a uniquely African phenomenon. In fact, taking a
closer look at corruption and expanding our understanding to beyond just bribes
and kickbacks enables us to see that corruption exists across the world and
that even in African' corruption, developed countries are deeply implicated.

Firstly, a closer look at TI's index shows that
70% of all countries scored less than 50 out of 100, with a global average of
just 43. Corruption is a problem with which most of the world is still
struggling, developed countries included.

In a telling case in 2008, for example, German
multinational Siemens was found to have had a slush fund totalling more than € 1.3 billion ($1.7 billion) to
help win overseas contracts from 2001 to 2007. The company was investigated for bribe-paying, corruption and falsifying corporate
books and, after much plea bargaining and negotiating, was fined a record $800
million.

This kind of corruption can sometimes also be
part and parcel of African corruption in that such companies are on the
lesser-examined supply side of bribes while
African governments are on the demand side.

In 2010, for instance, BAE Systems,
one of the world's largest defence contractors, pled guilty to criminal charges
regarding contracts won from countries including Tanzania and South Africa. BAE
was investigated by the UK's Serious Fraud Office in a long-running case and
ended up paying £286 million ($460 million) in fines.If we are to truly understand the
challenges of corruption faced by developing countries, we must recognise that
the kinds of kickbacks and bribes mentioned above - and measured by TI's
indices - are just one dimension of corruption. Taking a broader perspective,
we can see that while many activities may not be corrupt in terms of explicitly
contravening specific laws, they may nevertheless undermine human rights,
democracy and transparency.

And when we recognise this, the extent to which
developed countries are implicated in the problems facing Africa is brought
into stark relief. There are many important examples of this, one
of which is the role of governmental export credit agencies. Many Western
leaders, such as British Prime Minster David Cameron, have emphasised the need
to "tackle the causes of poverty, not just its symptoms".

But despite this, many Western governments -
through export credit agencies - support projects abroad that not only involve
economic corruption but are linked to human rights abuses and the maintenance
of inequality. Furthermore, to add insult to injury, they also often generate
sovereign debt in the process which then constrains governments' capacities
domestically.

One government heavily implicated in this kind
of corruption and accumulation of toxic debt is the UK and its
British Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD). The ECGD helps exporters
invest in high-risk projects- many of
which allegedly involve corruption, environmental destruction, or arms sales
leading to human rights abuses.

The Jubilee Debt Campaign estimates, for example, that
around one-quarter of Egypt's $ 150 million debt to
the UK comes from loans for military equipment which was used to prop up the
regime of former president Hosni Mubarak. Similarly, 11% of Zimbabwe's current
debt to the UK is owed for the purchasing of
1,000 police Land-Rovers which were used in internal repression.

More broadly in Zimbabwe, debt has played a key role in the tragedies that
many Zimbabweans have suffered over the last twenty years. Dodgy projects, debt
repayments and failed economic policies contributed to economic decline. Whilst the British government asserts that aid is
conditional on the pursuit of anti-corruption measures by the recipient
country, they are nevertheless providing financial support (through export
credits) for deals which could involve corruption.

For example, the
agreement for the 1986 Turkwel Gorge Hydro-Electric Power Station in Kenya was alleged to have involved
considerable payments to high-level Kenyan authorities.

In Egypt, for example, $22 million will be spent this year servicing debt
accrued by the Mubarak regime for military purchases. Despite a pledge by the Liberal Democrats,
the junior party in the ruling coalition government, to invalidate 'dictator
debts', the UK is demanding this debt be repaid despite the fact Mubarak was
overthrown and widely condemned by the international community.

Elsewhere, some countries including Nigeria,
Lesotho and Gabon reportedly owe more than 50% of their national debt to Export Credit
Agencies such as the British ECGD. And some studies have suggested that a
number of countries are spending more each year on
servicing their debt than they do on all public services combined.

While not all of these loans are necessarily
economically corrupt, they contribute to a climate of broader corruption in
which moral standards are seemingly bypassed in pursuit of economic gain by
developed countries.China and Asia investments in Africa present the unique opportunity for Africa to depart from Western's corrupt approach in business dealings. But local efforts can only be
effective if they are not contradicted by wide-scale corruption at the upper
echelons of public life, including at the international level. It is important
that governments of developed countries recognise the demand for change and
implement a real transformation in their support of developing countries.

Corruption, toxic debt and dubious arms deals
continue to plague developing countries, but the blame for this cannot be
solely placed on those in the developing world. Instead, developed countries
must look a little closer to home and realise that true change requires transparency
and accountability at all levels and in all states.By Guylain Gustave MokePolitical Analyst/WriterInvestigative Journalist